Ariana Grande serves up a Montauk mystery in her new video
Ariana Grande offers, without explanation, the coordinates to an intersection in Montauk in her new video. Credit: Invision / AP / Jordan Strauss
In both a teaser clip Thursday for her new single, “yes, and?,” and its music video that dropped Friday, the multiplatinum pop star Ariana Grande offers a Montauk mystery. Both open with a hand holding a red card bearing the words “a g 7” — a reference to Grande’s upcoming seventh studio album, her first since 2020 — and the geographical coordinates “41.0359° N · 71.9545° W.”
Those correspond to the intersection of Second House Road and South Eldert Lane in Montauk. On one corner is a private home, set back behind trees and landscaping. On the other is the Solé East Resort hotel. Across from that is the Montauk Fire Department.
The locale’s significance appears secretive. Neither Grande’s record company, her representatives nor the video’s director, Christian Breslauer, responded to Newsday requests for comment.
A spokesperson for Solé was also baffled: “This is a mystery to us as well — Ariana has not shot any music videos there. There is no evidence that Ariana has ever stayed at Solé, and Dave [Ceva, the hotel’s owner] has never met her. Our speculation is that possibly someone on her team has stayed there, or she plans to do something in Montauk this upcoming season.”
Fan sites are speculating Montauk is a reference to the Jim Carrey-Kate Winslet movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004), a favorite of rapper Mac Miller, Grande’s ex-beau but who had remained a friend at the time of his 2018 death. Grande has often posted and recorded tributes to him.
Herself a huge Carrey fan, Grande guest-starred in an episode of Carrey’s 2018-20 Showtime series “Kidding.” In a since-deleted Instagram post on July 31, 2019, with a photo from the show’s set, she wrote in part, “Nothing is crazier than getting to work with and spend time with someone whom you’ve idolized and adored since before you could speak. [A]ctually, what’s even crazier is discovering that person to be more special and warm and generous in person than you ever could’ve imagined.”
Yet while much of the movie takes place and was filmed in Montauk, none of its locations — which include the Long Island Rail Road Station on Edgemere Street, the Ocean Surf Resort at 84 S. Emerson Ave., a restaurant at 752 Montauk Hwy. and what appears to be Umbrella Beach on Old Montauk Highway — corresponds to the video’s coordinates.
“So much fun making this one with my incredible NY crew … I Hope you all love it,” Breslauer posted on Instagram Friday. In the comments, Grande wrote, “You are the best,” followed by an infinity sign.
Since releasing her most previous album, “Positions,” in October 2020, Grande has devoted most of her time to her cosmetics brand, R.E.M. Beauty; serving as a coach on the NBC singing competition “The Voice” in 2021; and shooting the upcoming film “Wicked,” an adaptation of the Broadway musical.
